Tyrone and Tipperary met for the first ever time in championship football last Saturday and the trip to the birthplace of the GAA left a lasting impression on Red Hand gaels.

Relations were, if reports are to be believed, strained between the two counties following the All-Ireland U-21 FC final but there was no evidence of that in Thurles last weekend as the Premier County rolled out the red carpet for the visitors.

Below is a post from the official Tyrone GAA Facebook page thanking the hosts for the warm welcome that Tyrone's players and supporters received...

'The Homeliness of Tipperary'

On Saturday Tyrone played a first-ever competitive match in Semple Stadium. It had been our good fortune for the game to be fixed there, giving many Tyrone Gaels a first-ever experience of that special place. We all know the GAA was founded in Thurles. What we now also know is that the true GAA spirit thrives there. Something very simple brought that home to us, the sheer welcomes and enthusiasm we met when virtually every one of us wanted to walk onto and see at first hand that 'perfect pitch' after the game. Too-often elsewhere the GAA spectator is treated as an inconvenient commodity/source of revenue. We're to be shooed, corralled, barred, penned, prevented and exploited. We found out on Saturday that's not 'The Semple Way.' Thank you Tipperary for letting us soak in that privileged place of yours (and ours!) at our ease and our leisure. Others could and should take note!

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